ROGERS — Trent Hill thought he might have hit the baseball a little too high when it left his bat Friday afternoon.
The fifth-inning blast did go high into the air, but it also went well over the right-field fence for a three-run home run.
Hill’s shot snapped a 4-4 tie and paved the way for Bentonville Nunnally Chevrolet’s to a 10-4 victory over Fort Smith Kerwins during the first day of the Rogers-Fayetteville Invitational at Veterans Park.
“I honestly didn’t know it was going to go over or not,” Hill said. “Then I saw the right fielder just stop and start watching, and I knew it was gone.”
Hill’s blast highlighted an eight-run outburst for Bentonville (10-4), which trailed 4-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth. That all changed in a big way as 13 batters came to the plate against a trio of Kerwins pitchers.
Junior Martinez tied the game at 4-4 when his single against a drawn-in infield scored Ryan Harrelston, who had reached on the first of three errors by Kerwins outfielders. Andrew Hagel then singled and set the stage for Hill’s towering shot, his fourth of the season.
“Trent has been hitting well,” Bentonville coach Kyle Blevins said. “When he stays locked in, he’s one of the best hitters around and he’s swinging it well.”
Bentonville continued to put runners on base, despite two pitching changes by Kerwins (9-6). Boydston and Harrelston each had a sacrifice fly, then Martinez capped out the run with his second RBI single of the inning.
“Things fell apart in the fifth, and part of that is my fault,” Kerwins coach Trey Prieur said. “We should have got (losing pitcher Andrew Hindman) out of there sooner. We left him in a batter or two too long, and the Hill kid totally changed the momentum of the game.
“That’s what good teams do. They take advantage of the extra outs we gave them, and they made us pay for it.”
Bentonville’s outburst atoned for its earlier baserunning mistakes that put an end to a promising first-inning outburst. Two runners were thrown out trying to take extra bases, and another was caught in a rundown on a squeeze bunt attempt.
It also made pitcher Hunter Boydston’s job much easier. The right-hander went the distance and allowed only one earned run on six hits, and his kick save of a sharp grounder up the middle turned a possible two-run single into a force out at the plate.
“It was huge,” Blevins said. “I think the max Hunter had gone this year was four innings, and he’s done well in about all his outings. He has tapped out right at that fourth-inning mark.”
BENTONVILLE NUNNALLY CHEVROLET 10,
FORT SMITH KERWINS 4
Fort Smith 003 010 0 — 4 6 5
Bentonville 010 180 X — 10 8 3
L. Turner, Hindman (3), D.J. Turner (5), Schaffer (5) and Peters; Boydston and Jibas, Jetton (7). W-Boydston. L-Hindman. HR-Bentonville, Hill (4).